Beatrice Arthur, 86, star of two iconic television series, died peacefully Saturday at home. Beatrice won Emmy Awards for her role in the 1970s television series Maude and also for her role as Dorothy in the 1980s series The Golden Girls. (Cynopsis 4/27)

With an average prime-time delivery of 2.26 million in the first quarter, Fox News Channel with relative ease locked up the No. 2 spot among ad-supported cable networks. But now, the right-leaning news outlet is even looking to oust general-interest network USA as the top cable programmer. Mediaweek (4/27)

CNN uses less opinion than its competitors. Lou Dobbs is an exception.

MTV on Tuesday is expected to announce a new reality show called “The Stylist,” an occupational-competition series about fashion and accessory designers who will vie for a major contract. According to published reports, the show is a bit of a departure for MTV because its format will be reminiscent of series on Bravo, the CW and TLC. The Hollywood Reporter (4/26)

Two financial earnings reports to be released this week — Time Warner on Wednesday and Viacom on Thursday — are expected to provide the first detailed indication of how the cable industry fared financially in the first quarter of the year. Time Warner owns cable networks such as TNT, TBS and CNN, and Viacom’s channels include Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon. The Wall Street Journal (4/26)

MTV is hosting its own “Youth Inaugural Ball” on January 20, 2009 at 10pm ET/7pm PT to help parlay the impressive youth turnout on election day into continued interest in national and local community service. The show, which will be broadcast live across all MTV platforms in the U.S. including MTV, MTV.com, MTV2, MTV Tr3s, mtvU, MTV Hits, MTV Jams and MTV Mobile, will feature live remarks from newly inaugurated President Obama as well as performances from an all-star cast of performance artists. (Cynopsis 1/13)

Showtime is employing what it calls a “digital sampling strategy” to whip up excitement around the premiere Sunday of the Steven Spielberg-produced “United States of Tara.” Besides TV, the premiere episode will be available on more than 100 Web sites, in theaters in 25 markets, on mobile-phone platforms and other content avenues. MediaPost Communications (1/12)

Just watched the first episode from one of their 100 web sites and was entranced. The personalities are so engaging that you forget the original character at some point. Check it out here in refreshingly amazing quality video.

“Stargate Atlantis” and “Sanctuary,” two Sci Fi Channel shows, ended their series and season runs, respectively, on high notes. The series finale of “Atlantis” on Friday attracted about 2 million viewers and earned a 1.5 household rating; the first-season closer of “Sanctuary” also pulled in about 2 million people, but put up a 1.6 rating mark. TVWeek.com (1/12)

NBC is adding another legal show to its development slate, per THR, as the network gave a script commitment for a 30m comedy Barely Legal based on the true story of Kathleen Holtz who became the youngest person, at age 18, to pass the bar in California. The role of Kathleen will be played by Hilary Duff and Rob Morrow, who developed the project through his company Bits and Pieces Productions will executive produce; Universal Media Studios will produce. (Cynopsis 1/13)

Starz has extended a content deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment for exclusive rights to the company’s films as well as behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the movies’ stars. The extension keeps the companies’ previous pact, which is set to expire in 2013, in place into the latter part of the next decade. Multichannel News (1/12) , Variety (1/12)

TNT has ordered 10 episodes of Ray Romano’s “Men of a Certain Age,” a buddy comedy that also will star Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula. The show, Romano’s first since “Everybody Loves Raymond,” is expected to premiere later this year. The Hollywood Reporter (1/12)

“Harper’s Island,” a new CBS murder mystery from the creators of YouTube hit “lonelygirl15,” isn’t just coming to television. The new series, premiering this spring, will be presented as a multi-platform interactive program with portions airing online and on mobile devices. (Iwantmedia 1/13, http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6629251.html 1/13)

HBOis developing what is being described as a dark comedy about a down-on-his-luck father who discovers that his below-the-belt girth can help transform his life. The show, titled “Hung,” is the first project for Sue Naegle, who became HBO’s entertainment chief Monday. (Variety 4/23)

CNN’s coverage of the Pennsylvania Democratic primary Tuesday averaged nearly 2.56 million viewers, good enough to overcome the other top cable news channels for the night, according to Nielsen. Fox News Channel recorded 2.36 million viewers, and MSNBC had 1.62 million. (Multichannel News 4/23)

Based on a Hallmark Channel analysis of Nielsen’s C3 commercial-ratings data, Nick at Nite retained 95.5% of its audience through commercial breaks in the first quarter — the best of any cable net. Hallmark finished second with 93.2% and was followed by The Weather Channel with 92.5%, TV Land with 92.1% and Cartoon Network with 91.4 to round out the top five. (TVWeek.com 4/23)

NBC and the National Hockey League are continuing their partnership through the 2008-2009 season. Under this agreement, NBC will air the NHL Sunday Game of the Week during the regular season per usual utilizing flexible scheduling, broadcasting nine Sunday afternoon games in all. The network will also provide coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final which may equal 15 post-season games in total. (Cynopsis 4/24)

Fox has ordered up a new pilot from exec producer JD Roth called Bad Dads, hunting down deadbeat dads who owe ex-wives child support, reports THR. At the helm is Jim Durham, who is also the head of the National Child Support Center. Durham first calls the dads and offers them a chance to make things right, and when that doesn’t work, in classic ambush TV style, he finds and confronts deadbeat dads in public places. (Cynopsis 4/24)

Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have pulled out of a joint venture with Sprint Nextel to develop a quadruple play of voice, video, Internet and wireless services under the banner Pivot, according to this article. “We remain committed to bringing a wireless component to our portfolio of services, but we don’t believe Pivot was the best option,” said Jill Ullman, a spokeswoman at Cox. (MSNBC/Associated Press 4/23)

Comcast filed for a restraining order against AT&Tin Chicago complaining its U-Verse service is causing problems for its cable modem customers, reports Ars Technica. AT&T says it added 148,000 new U-verse customers this quarter, bringing its IPTV base to 379,000. (Cynopsis 4/24)